Wednesday, 20 December 2023
More Small Steps
THE SHADO OF CHRISTMAS
Took a few shots of my studio-scale Shado Mobile scratchbuild.
Cheers,
Enjoy
Kevin
UK
*
Did you get a SHADO 3 Mobile one Christmas readers? Pictures welcomed!
Tuesday, 19 December 2023
US AGENT AT THE YORKSHIRE TRADING POST
I had to look twice in a local store, where I clocked US agent on a bubble card no less!
Released by Kenner, I think this maybe the first time the Agent gets a stint on the toy shelf since Toy Biz's 1994 release as part of the Marvel Super Heroes figure line.
Is the US Agent an Agent you know?
INSTANT LITE BRITE
This is cool. Instant on-screen Lite Brite. Almost as good as having the set on Christmas morning. Well not quite but have a go!
1/76 Scale Step For a Man
Back in 1971, as the excitement of the Moon landing was starting to pale and the Apollo missions had almost become routine, the toy industry was still very much engaged with producing items to take advantage of the hype. Model makers Airfix had been making aircraft kits for decades and had recently moved up a gear by making models of the Lunar Module, Saturn 1B, Saturn V rocket and the Sikorsky Sea King Capsule retrieval Helicopter.
In each box, there were a range of figures, along with two small kits of the Lunar Rover, a pair of flying platforms and a dual seated lunar excursion vehicle.
Maurice Alward had covered the three vehicles in the Daily Mirror Book of Space, an excellent annual sized volume, which had appeared in 1970 and included a wealth of information on projected and conceptual vehicles.
The Flying Lunar Excursion Experimental Platform or FLEEP and the individual Lunar Platform were designed by Bell and tested at Langley Research Centre with the intention of extending the range of exploration of the lunar surface.
The Lunar Roving Vehicle was eventually used on later Apollo missions , but the cost of development of more exotic forms of transport and the reduced interest in extended missions beyond Apollo 17, meant that other forms of transportation never made it beyond the drawing board.
Airfix FLEEP is loosely based on several different concepts of the platform and is a very simplified but recognisable facsimile. It is a three part kit and like the rest of the series, made of a semi-flexible polythene like plastic.
As its flexible, it makes the models difficult to paint, as without special priming and sealing, the movement in the plastic can cause the paint to peel and flake.
Moulding for all the figures and parts is - as always - excellent, with great detail, even on the small parts. The only down side is excessive flashing from the sprue.
The Apollo 11 posed astronaut from the Lunar Module kit had a special decal to apply to the flag, but the figure set leaves that detail up to the modeller.
Another classic astronaut pose, with the figure holding a camera or recording device, looking suspiciously gun-like and echoing the early fifties spacemen toys, with rayguns in hand.
Contemporary with other famous classic space toys, the Triang Interspace miniature range, which came with a golden astronaut in a Mercury era type suit, the Airfix figures look clumsy in comparison, but are a similar scale.
The Lunar Module kit came complete with a circular moon surface base and two small figures of Armstrong and Aldrin. Airfix later used the molds for these figures to create a full set of Apollo era astronauts for their polythene 1/76 scale figure line.
Besides the two classic poses, Airfix went several steps better and included vehicles along with several new figure poses.
The Lunar Roving Vehicle was eventually used on later Apollo missions , but the cost of development of more exotic forms of transport and the reduced interest in extended missions beyond Apollo 17, meant that other forms of transportation never made it beyond the drawing board.
The Bell Flying platform is composed of four parts, the stand, two ball shaped fuel cells and the control stem. An astronaut figure clips on to the stand.
Moulding for all the figures and parts is - as always - excellent, with great detail, even on the small parts. The only down side is excessive flashing from the sprue.
The second figure taken from the kit reflects the classic shot of Aldrin on the surface, taking a step on the moon. It can also be used as Armstrong descending the ladder of the LEM.
The two Lunar Rovers are again, much simplified versions of the rover, with two seats and a control stem. Each rover has two seated figures.
Airfix reissued the Astronaut set in 2019, as part of the Vintage Collection - producing them in white plastic, as opposed to the cream. A large One Small Step For Mankind boxed kit was also released, with an extended moon scape base, the LEM kit and the Astronauts.
ZOOM CLUB
I love this old American TV commercial from 1983 on YT.
Pure Hot Wheels pleasure on a smooth floor with your mates including smashing cars and book ramps too! Just like I did as a kid with mates nearly twenty years earlier!
A great ad capturing the simple joy of childhood play I think. You?
And all Through the House
As Advent wends its incensed way towards the Big Day I've clocked another of my fave Chrimbo films, Tales from the Crypt from 1972.
Inspired by the 1950's EC comics, the movie was made by Amicus the anthology kings at Shepperton [a place I've only just realised I lived not too far from in the 80's when a mature student in Farnborough!], Crypt is a classic of the portmanteau format and like its stablemate Vault of Horror follows a group of five strangers brought together in eerie circumstances all with salutary tales of greed and the punishment thereof.
My favourite section without doubt is the first, And all Through The House. Starring Joan Collins and horror wunderkind Chloe Franks, it tells a story of foul deeds on Christmas Eve when a homicidal maniac is on the loose in 'Burley'.
Despite the horror, this segment says Christmas to me like nothing else. The contemporary set Amicus created might as well have been my parents' house in the late Sixties; the garish wall hangings, the mini-bar, the thick-cut glasses, the huge table lighter, the big radio in the middle of the room, the sparkling tree and the paper Fez hats. Its like a time capsule of my past with other people in the starring role! Simply fabulous film-making and a special treat every December when I watch it.
Here are a few shots of our own tree at Moonbase and the tree in the segment [I couldn't resist], the unfortunate husband placing a tag on a special Christmas gift for his beloved Wife, which he reads aloud before sitting down to browse the last newspaper he'll ever read, the Burley Observer!
And all through the house ..... is Tales from the Crypt a film you like readers?
ONE SMALL KIT FOR MAN
The Airfix One Small Step For Man... boxed set came out in 2019, for the 50th Anniversary of the first Moon Landing in 1969. It is a large Gift Set, in 1/72nd scale.
The set is numbered A50106. It contains the 1/72nd scale Lunar Module kit (copyright date 1970), and the HO/OO Astronauts from 1971.
All are moulded in white plastic - hard plastic for the LEM, and soft plastic for the figures. There is also a vac-formed Lunar surface in light grey plastic.
Being a Gift Set there are 8 small pots of acrylic paint, 2 paint brushes, and a small tube of cement. The box top shows the LEM and two Astronauts on the Moon, while the small photo to the side shows the LEM on the vac-formed base, with the Astronauts set below.
Oddly, the box says 16 Astronauts with Equipment, but there are 17 in the box. Two come with the LEM, and 15 in the Astronauts set.
This set was listed in the Airfix catalogue from 2019 to 2021. I was lucky enough to find this set on special, and snapped it up.
Is it a kit you have or had?
Paul Adams from New Zealand
.JPG)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Paul Vreede's New Spacex Toys Website
A beautiful and comprehensive site dedicated to the world of Tri-ang SpaceX and Golden Astronaut Toys
Ed Berg's Toy Blog: Toys and Stuff
